Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Nancy Fordonski - July 29, 1982

While you were in the Łódź ghetto, you were doing work, you said.

Yes.

And you had--did you meet--did you have any time for um, meeting people or social, becoming friends with people at that point?

In Łódź ghetto we had different, different works. And different--going from places to places 'til everything settled down. Again, because the Łódź ghetto sound to look already like you are making your permanent home because people were there already for such a long time. Since the beginning of 1940, they lived there and they worked there and they stayed there. So we were trying--my sister and myself were trying just to mingle in with everybody and go to work just like we were assigned and go about all our daily routines and all our different chores what we have to, chores what we have, we have to do in our uh, like I couldn't uh, leave everything to my sister, that she had to do things for, for me or I--we shared our work where it was in the house. We were very close. We loved each other dearly. We were very close with my older sister, with my brother-in--with both brother-in-laws. We saw each other whenever we had a chance. But still, we had to get up early in the morning and go, and go to work. And uh, come home in the evening and still to do whatever you had to do. And stay in long lines to get your daily--your rations for getting it for a week. But everyday they were giving you something else. So everyday you were busy with, with something. But fortunate, we were still young and uh, I started to work in a place, it was a big factory. They were making uniforms for the German army. And I worked there in the kitchen. By saying in the kitchen means that we were cooking the food for the people what were working in the factory. Gave them one meal. But by saying one meal, it wasn't a meal like you have here in the--a meal. A meal was just one big uh, [pause] one portion of soup.